Dongguan is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the south, and the Pearl River to the west. It is part of the Pearl River Delta built-up (or metro) area with more than 65.57 million inhabitants as of the 2020 census spread over nine municipalities across an area of .
Dongguan's city administration is considered especially progressive in seeking foreign direct investment. Dongguan ranks behind only Shenzhen, Shanghai and Suzhou in exports among Chinese cities, with $65.54 billion in shipments. It is also home to one of the world's largest shopping malls, the New South China Mall,Utopia, Part 3: The World's Largest Shopping Mall, August 18, 2009, Retrieved February 9, 2010 which is seeing increased activity. The city is geographically and thus culturally Cantonese in the Weitou form as well as culturally Hakka in the prefectures of Fenggang and Qingxi; the majority of the 21st century population speaks Mandarin due to the large influx of economic migrants from other parts of China. The city is home to several universities, including Guangdong University of Science and Technology, Guangdong Medical University and Dongguan University of Technology.
Economy In the Pearl River Delta region, Dongguan was the first urban area where joint production was implemented between village collectives, local Chinese Communist Party cadres, and foreign investors. In the 1990s, that type of enterprise accounted for around 20 percent of all foreign direct investments, and approximately 50 percent of exports by the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Today Dongguan is a major manufacturing hub, although it suffered significant loss of economic activity from the impact of the 2008 financial crisis. The largest industrial sector is manufacturing of electronics and communications equipment; international companies with facilities in Dongguan include DuPont, Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Maersk. It is also a strong hub of toy making, with 4,000 toy-production enterprises, and near to 1,500 related factories.
The Dongguan Science and Technology Museum opened in December 2005 and is the high tech commerce park in the Songshan Lake district, which opened in 2003. The museum is a partnership with the Global IT Academy of the Brea Olinda Unified School District in Southern California, demonstrating the city's emphasis on attracting technology business. The city announced in 2005 a planned investment of US$500 million over five years for technology infrastructure improvements. The city administration is considered especially progressive in seeking foreign direct investment. Among the investors were Brazilian shoe manufacturers. Brazil excelled in manufacturing cheap footwear in the 1970s and 80s. The Brazilian community in Dongguan numbered 4,000 people in 2013.Brasileiros vão à China em busca de emprego , Folha de S.Paulo Custo tira calçadistas brasileiros da China , Folha de S.Paulo
While the city is the fourth largest export region in China, behind Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Suzhou, Dongguan has yet to gain the kind of name recognition outside of China as has been realized by Shenzhen. That may be because the city has focused on infrastructure investment rather than the direct targeting of major corporations with financial incentives for economic development. Nevertheless, Dongguan has been identified by high-level representatives of the National Development and Reform Commission of the central government as one of the most significant growth regions for technology. As part of that plan, the Dongguan local government announced its intention to create and support a 100-billion-yuan photovoltaic manufacturing industry by 2015.
To cope with the impact of the 2008 financial crisis, Dongguan city looked to industrial restructuring, focusing on four pillar platforms, namely governmental services, supporting measures, technology upgrade, and market expansion. The city government claimed that the process has enhanced its capability for independent innovation and the quantity of patent applications.
Dongguan was known as China's "Sin City", where prostitution thrived, but authorities have attempted to eradicate that aspect of the city. On 9 February 2014, China Central Television aired a special on the sex industry in Dongguan. On the same day, Guangdong Provincial Police raided and closed all saunas, bars, foot massage premises, karaoke bars, and other businesses associated with the sex industry. The negative economic impact of the crackdown was reported to be 50 billion yuan, or just over $8 billion US dollars. The campaign affected the livelihoods of taxi drivers and restaurants which, while not directly involved in the sex industry, benefited from the increase in clientele.
The city ranked 13th by Forbes China in its list of the most innovative mainland cities, as well as 18th in Foreign Policy's listing of the most dynamic cities in the world.
History
The earliest traces of human habitation in the area stretch back 5,000 years. In 1839, at the outset of the First Opium War, large quantities of seized opium were destroyed in Humen, a town that now belongs to Dongguan. Several of the major battles of the war were fought in this area.
During the Second World War, the city served as the base for guerrilla resistance against the occupation that came with the Second Sino-Japanese War.Dongguan - History , Dongguan Government
Being a district of the Huiyang prefecture before, as its economy overshadowed the prefectural capital of Huizhou itself, Dongguan earned city status in 1985, and was upgraded to prefecture city status three years later. During this period the city changed its focus from an agricultural town into a manufacturing hub, with an average annual growth of up to 18 percent.
Geography Geographically, the city is mostly hilly to the east and flat in the west, with of shoreline. The urban center of Dongguan is from that of Guangzhou to its north, from Shenzhen to its south, from Hong Kong and from Macau by waterway. It is positioned in the middle of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen economic corridor, a hub for both land and sea transport.
Of Dongguan's total area, 27 percent is water, 25 percent forest land, and 13 percent arable land, while 35 percent of its land area has been fully developed.
Climate Dongguan has a dry-winter humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cwa), with abundant rainfall over the year. It lies just south of the Tropic of Cancer. The average temperature is throughout the year with average rainfall of . With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 23 percent in March to 57 percent in October, the city receives 1892 hours of bright sunshine annually.
Demographics Dongguan had an estimated 6,949,800 inhabitants at the end of 2008, among whom 1,748,700 were local residents and 5,201,100 permanent migrants from other parts of the country. At the 2010 Census the population had expanded to 8,220,237. The number reached 10.5 million by 2020.
According to the Seventh National Census in 2020, the city's permanent population was 10,466,625. Compared with 8,220,237 people in the Sixth National Census in 2010, the city's permanent population increased by 2,246,388 people, an increase of 27.33%, with an average annual growth rate of 2.45%.
In addition, Dongguan is the hometown for many overseas Chinese.
Administration Dongguan is a prefecture-level city of the Guangdong province. An uncommon administrative feature is that it has no county-level division, but the municipal government does group the 32 township-level divisions into six district areas. The city government directly administers four Subdistricts and 28 towns:
Map Name Simplified Chinese Hanyu Pinyin Population Area(km2) Density(/km2) Division code Residential communities Administrative villages Chengqu Area Chéngqū Piànqū 1,653,407 299.0 5529.78 — 4 subdistricts, 2 towns Dongcheng Subdistrict Dōngchéng Jiēdào 492,875 110.0 4,480.68 441900003 23 Nancheng Subdistrict Nánchéng Jiēdào 289,255 59.0 4,902.62 441900004 18 Wanjiang Subdistrict Wànjiāng Jiēdào 244,765 50.5 4,846.83 441900005 28 Guancheng Subdistrict Guǎnchéng Jiēdào 162,116 13.5 12,008.59 441900006 8 Shijie town Shíjié Zhèn 246,960 36.0 6,860.00 441900101 1 14 Gaobu town Gāobù Zhèn 217,436 30.0 7,247.86 441900129 1 18 Songshanhu Area Sōngshānhú Piànqū 1,467,455 433.8 3382.79 — 6 towns Shilong town Shílóng Zhèn 141,850 11.3 12,553.09 441900102 3 7 Chashan town Cháshān Zhèn 156,522 51.0 3,069.05 441900103 2 16 Shipai town Shípái Zhèn 160,202 56.0 2,860.75 441900104 1 18 Liaobu town Liáobù Zhèn 418,578 87.5 4783.74 441900111 10 20 Dalang town Dàlǎng Zhèn 310,889 118.0 2,634.65 441900113 12 16 Dalingshan town Dàlǐngshān Zhèn 279,414 110.0 2,540.12 441900118 3 21 Dongbu Area Dōngbù Piànqū 1,349,280 493.5 2734.10 — 7 towns Qishi town Qǐshí Zhèn 121,693 51.0 2,386.13 441900105 1 19 Hengli town Hénglì Zhèn 204,830 50.0 4,096.60 441900106 1 16 Qiaotou town Qiáotóu Zhèn 166,774 56.0 2,978.10 441900107 6 11 Xiegang town Xiègǎng Zhèn 99,387 103.0 964.92 441900108 1 11 Dongkeng town Dōngkēng Zhèn 138,819 27.5 5,047.96 441900109 2 14 Changping town Chángpíng Zhèn 386,378 108.0 3,577.57 441900110 2 31 Huangjiang town Huángjiāng Zhèn 231,399 98.0 2,361.21 441900114 7 Dongnan Area Dōngnán Piànqū 1,246,493 472.3 2639.19 — 4 towns Zhangmutou town Zhāngmùtou Zhèn 132,816 118.8 1,117.97 441900112 10 Qingxi town Qīngxī Zhèn 312,639 143.0 2,186.28 441900115 1 20 Tangxia town Tángxià Zhèn 482,067 128.0 3,766.14 441900116 23 Fenggang town Fènggǎng Zhèn 318,971 82.5 3,866.31 441900117 1 11 Binhai Area Bīnhǎi Piànqū 1,918,652 509.3 3767.23 — 4 towns Chang'an town Cháng'ān Zhèn 664,230 97.8 6,791.71 441900119 13 Humen town Hǔmén Zhèn 638,657 178.5 3,577.91 441900121 31 Houjie town Hòujiē Zhèn 438,283 126.0 3,478.43 441900122 24 Shatian town Shātián Zhèn 177,482 107.0 1,658.71 441900123 2 16 Shuixiang Area Shuǐxiāng Piànqū 543,632 261.5 2078.89 — 5 towns Daojiao town Dàojiào Zhèn 143,107 63.0 2,271.53 441900124 1 13 Hongmei town Hóngméi Zhèn 58,114 33.0 1,761.03 441900125 1 9 Machong town Máchǒng Zhèn 118,062 74.0 1,595.43 441900126 2 13 Wangniudun town Wàngniúdūn Zhèn 84,786 31.5 2,685.65 441900127 1 21 Zhongtang town Zhōngtáng Zhèn 139,563 60.0 2,326.05 441900128 5 15 Special Jurisdictions 441900400 3
Administrative divisions of Dongguan Division code English name Chinese Pinyin Area in km2 Population 2010 Seat Postal code Divisions Subdistricts Towns Residential communities Administrative villages 441900 Dongguan City Dōngguǎn Shì 2,465.00 8,220,207 City-administered District 523000 4 28 248 350 441900 City-administered District Shìxiáqū 2,465.00 8,220,207 Nancheng Subdistrict 523000 4 28 248 350
Transport
Air Dongguan is served by Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, but primarily by Hong Kong International Airport; ticketed passengers to HKIA can take ferries from the Humen Ferry Terminal in Humen to the HKIA Skypier."Ferry Transfer ." Hong Kong International Airport. Retrieved on May 8, 2018. There are also coach bus services connecting Dongguan with HKIA."Mainland Coaches ." Hong Kong International Airport. Retrieved on May 8, 2018.
Road Many foreign travellers to Dongguan fly into Hong Kong, which gives visas on arrival to citizens of over 170 countries. One can travel from Hong Kong to Dongguan by bus, ferry, or train. Passengers travelling overland must disembark from their transport at the Hong Kong/China border to go through customs and immigration, except for those travelling on the Mass Transit Railway intercity services (former Kowloon–Canton Railway) from Hung Hom station to Dongguan, Guangzhou and beyond.